Q: I hit a plateau. I initially lost 34 pounds and want to lose 10-15 more. I have been working out like crazy doing Beach Bodies Insanity Workout. I eat between 1400-1600 calories a day and I eat pretty healthy, but I stopped losing weight three weeks ago. How do I get moving again?

A: Finishing the last leg of your journey to your ideal shape can be the most difficult, but it doesn’t have to be.

As most of you know, hitting a plateau is a pretty common occurrence in the fitness community. Sometimes it’s caused by a poor exercise program and other times by a poor nutrition plan. In this case I think nutrition is the culprit.

One of the most common mistakes made by individuals trying to get to their ideal shape is being in calorie deficit for long periods of time. Your body is very efficient and wants more than anything to keep you alive. When you put your body into calorie restriction, it thinks it is starving and the hormones in your body respond by trying to maintain fat stores.

There is a specific hormone called leptin whose function is to communicate your nutrition status to your body and brain. After a period of time of dieting, leptin levels fall dramatically, telling your brain and body it needs more nutrition even though you have plenty of fat (nutrition) stored.  Your body then goes to work to decrease the number of calories it burns each day, in order to be able to hang on to as much fat as possible in case the nutrition situation gets worse. The result is decreased thyroid function and skyrocketing cortisol levels. On top of that, since muscle burns so many calories (50 calories per pound a day), your body goes to work shedding as much muscle as possible to more efficiently keep fat stores. Hence the diet-induced plateau.

So what is the solution?

Convince your body it isn’t starving and get your leptin levels up!

How do you do that?

Take at least one day a week and increase your caloric intake beyond your daily requirement. This instantly increases leptin levels and the body responds by giving in to the “calorie in, calorie out” model. The greater that deficit, the more body fat you are going to lose if you do it correctly. You don’t want to lose muscle in the process.

Keeping your hormones in balance by taking in extra calories once a week will allow your body to give up more energy (fat) to rebuild and grow lean muscle mass. Body for Life was the initial creator of this strategy and it was later improved by Joel Marion through his Cheat Your Way Thin Manual and his more aggressive program Xtreme Fat Loss Diet. The cheat day concept from a healthy eating perspective has yielded the best results with our clients. We have modified the eating program slightly for our clients.

We preach consistently at AskFitnessCoach that you must shorten the time you are in calorie restriction as much as possible. The effects of long periods of calorie restriction can be horrible on your metabolism. Anyone using calorie restriction to get to their ideal shape should have a very strong maintenance plan in place to prevent yo-yo dieting.

Disclaimer: we are affiliates of all these programs just in case you decide to buy one of them.

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A: It sure can be frustrating to work hard and see zero results. Like Sisyphus pushing the same boulder uphill day after day, when we’re stuck in a weight loss rut, our commitment to fitness feels eternally pointless.

And normally you should be seeing fat loss with metabolic circuits, or any other type of training that involves high-intensity interval cardio and resistance exercises. But there are still a lot of reasons why your squeaky-clean fitness routine may not be working. Take a look at these five possible causes:

#1: Repeating the Same Routine.

Your body will always adapt to exercise, so you’ve got to switch it up—and ramp it up—to keep from plateauing. If you want to keep doing metabolic circuits, you need to periodically increase intensity, add reps, add weight, go longer, rest shorter… you get the gist. Spice it up every few weeks or sooner if you feel ready. Or, throw your body off balance by changing your game every month: try spinning, join a fat loss boot camp, do combat workouts, then come back to circuit training.

By the way, there’s no harm in bulking up while you burn fat, is there? If you’ve been doing metabolic circuits, which incorporate resistance exercises, you are probably already well on your way to more developed muscles. And why not do both at the same time? After all, more lean muscle mass means stronger workouts and increased fat burn!

#2: Working Out Too Much.

Yes, it’s possible to overdo it, and people commit this exercise error often. “You only need three hard workouts per week,” says Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS. That’s welcome news for those of us who can’t spare more than a couple days a week at the gym. And, in fact, if you put in more than a handful of hard, full-body workouts per week, you could be hindering fat loss.

Better to have fewer higher-intensity workouts than more ineffective ones. Remember, it’s during rest that your body builds muscle and recharges for your next high-energy workout. Without adequate rest, you won’t allow muscle recovery, you’ll wear your body down, and you could become overly fatigued and injure yourself during your workout. Check here for signs of over-exercise.

Try to avoid working the same muscle groups on consecutive days. If you want to work out every day, mix in some steady state cardio or light activity on the in-between days.

#3: Being Sedentary Outside the Gym.

Here’s an ugly truth: working out for an hour a day, but being desk-bound (or couch-bound) for eight, will leave you in worse shape than someone who doesn’t exercise at the gym but stays active in their daily life.

Joe Kita of CorePerformance was surprised to discover that a fitness buff can be “sedentary.” “Like many people, I’ve put my exercise in a box,” he says. “But outside of that box, am I really any different from all those grandmothers in housecoats watching QVC from their couch?”

If you really want to be in good shape, you’ll need to make fitness your lifestyle. Squeeze action into every minute of my day? Sounds hard! But actually, it isn’t. And CorePerformance says picking up a pedometer will help you become more aware of your activeness. We’re guessing this’ll put a halt to indulgent elevator rides and shortcuts through the grass (which No More Bacon’s Ryan Sullivan pinpoints as the real reason we’re fat).

Of course, if you’re a student or work a desk job (that covers most of us), it’s tough to be active all day. But you need to keep yourself moving. How about a 10-minute stroll/bounce/cartwheel to the water cooler and back, once an hour?

#4: Diet Missteps.

It sounds like you’re eating healthy—consuming balanced meals and keeping your caloric intake under wraps. Make sure, though, that your calorie count doesn’t fall too low: calculate your caloric need here and don’t go less than 300-500 below that to lose excess fat. If your caloric need is 2,200, for example, then you can eat between 1,700-1,900 calories. Go lower, and you’ll kill your metabolism by sending a message to your body that it needs to hold onto fat in preparation for the “famine” it expects.

Two more ways to rev up your metabolism: take a metabolism-boosting weight loss supplement and eat 5-6 small, nutritious meals a day (starting with breakfast). While you’re at it, why not try this innovative approach to eating for weight loss?

#5: Not Seeing the Bigger Picture.

If there’s a chance you might have mood imbalances, dietary imbalances or a health condition, set up an appointment with your doctor. A lot of emotional and physiological factors can cause a person to gain weight, from stress and depression to endocrine system issues. If your body is trying to send you this kind of alert, not all the dieting and exercising in the world will make a difference.

If there are no health concerns, perhaps you could simply benefit from hiring a personal trainer or weight loss coach. Many people find it’s a great investment because they learn fitness and nutrition principles that last a lifetime. A trainer can also help you pinpoint what you’re doing wrong in your routine, and arm you with simple tips to maximize fat burn. Best of all, weight loss professionals will help you create exercise and diet plans based on your body, your needs and what you have time for.

Whatever you do, don’t get discouraged! You may have to try several things before you find out what works for you. In the meantime, take a look at more ways to push past the plateau, and spend a few minutes scrolling through Cranky Fitness’s fun tips for freshening your workout plan.

If you can look at health and fitness as a lifelong journey, you’ll be more patient with your body, more committed, and better able to appreciate your successes. Believe it or not, these are three ways to get quicker weight loss results!

Still stumped? Maybe the obstacles lie below the surface. Uncover subconscious saboteurs with weight loss hypnosis.

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My details:

Gender: M

Age: 23

Height: 5’11″

Weight: 200 lbs.

I started working out a few days back, burning 500 calories every day. My daily intake is around 1,500 calories. I’m doing weights also. – Raj

A: Unfortunately, the midsection is where most guys tend to put on the pounds. But there are lots of ways to send that fat packing!

Here are some of our favorite middle-fat-blasters:

Skip the Steady State Cardio – When it comes to trimming your midsection, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a better use of your gym time. So bypass the stationary machines and triple your fat burn with routines like metabolic circuits.

Add Green Tea to Your Diet – The evidence supporting green tea’s fat-blasting properties is irrefutable. The only question is, should you sip a cup or take green tea extract?

Work That Core – Find out how to blast stomach fat and put a six-pack in its place!

Eat More Protein – Protein shakes are an efficient, easy way to get your protein, which boosts fat loss by helping you build lean muscle mass. Be sure to have a protein shake within 60 minutes of your resistance training workout for maximum muscle recovery.

Suppress Your Sweet Tooth – We all know sugar makes us gain weight, but the reasons may surprise you!

Double Up with Compound Exercises – We’re glad to hear you’re doing strength training on top of your cardio. Lifting weights is a good way to tone your chest, abs and back—not just your arms and shoulders. But in order to make the most of your lifting, you need to focus on getting full-body results.

A Note About Your Diet

Are you eating enough of the right foods? Nutrition is key to losing weight and staying healthy, and it’s about more than caloric intake. To begin with, try to cover all your bases: the government offers helpful dietary guidelines, and they’ll also tell you how much of each food group to eat based on your age, sex, height and activity level.

Next, calculate your caloric need. Remember, you only need to consume 300-500 less than your caloric need in order to lose excess fat. As a tall, young male, you probably need more than 1,500 calories a day, especially if you’re burning 500 of them! Eat too few calories and you’re just as likely to gain/keep weight because you’ll send your body into starvation mode. Your metabolism will slow down and your body will hoard fat.

What you want to do is keep your metabolism high. To do that, meet your caloric need, stay active throughout the day on top of exercise, and eat 5-6 small, healthy meals. One of those meals can be a nutritious protein shake. And whatever you do, don’t skip breakfast!

Sticking to Your New Fitness Routine

Since it sounds like you’ve just kicked your exercise regimen up a notch, we thought we’d give mindset a mention. Frame of mind is often overlooked in fitness, and yet it’s the most important aspect: staying on track is the only way to achieve and keep your results. Once you’ve geared your mind for weight loss, you’re ready to apply these tips from other experts about starting a new regimen and staying on track.

Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress! We want to hear what works for you and what doesn’t.

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Q: OK so I have been running 4-6 miles on the stair-master, cross-trainer or treadmill 4-5 times a week. And taking one hour classes (weight training, cycling,  kickboxing, or machines) about 4 times a week. I eat my normal diet, that hasn’t changed much, but I am a vegetarian and it is semi healthy…  with a little oil, sufficient carbs and lots of greens.

I have been doing this for the last 5 months. Initially, I lost some weight, but lately the scale says that I gained weight. I assume that could be muscle, however, my inches are no longer going down, nor does it seem like my body is losing anything anywhere anymore…

I just finished medical school (I know, I should be able to answer my own question then =) ). So my life outside of the gym consists of stress and sitting in front of the books for 14 hours studying for the boards… Obviously I was initially doing something right so my diet cannot be the sole reason. So what am I doing wrong and what should I do differently? – Megha

A: Kudos for finding the time to work out so diligently and for being determined in your goals. Don’t get discouraged! There are many factors involved in fitness. That means we’re required to try lots of things as we get to know our bodies and discover what will create optimal results for us.

Weight loss plateaus are common, too: the body is so smart that it adapts quickly in order to conserve energy. But to lose excess fat, we want it to burn energy. The key is to keep the body off balance. So while you may not be doing anything wrong, it’s probably time to switch up your routine.

Let’s first look at what you’re eating, and then we’ll point you to some great resources on this site for maximizing fitness results.

WHAT TO EAT (AND WHAT NOT TO!)

Essentially, you should be eating plentiful fruits and vegetables, calcium-rich low-fat dairy, whole grains, and—in your case, as a vegetarian—ample non-meat sources of protein. Make sure to incorporate a variety of foods in your diet. Here are some basic guidelines for the three major dietary nutrients:

Protein

Protein is fundamental for keeping—and building—lean muscle mass. It will increase your metabolism as well as make your workouts more effective, so you’ll burn more fat. (By the way, you are right to ask whether your increased weight could be muscle gain. Don’t put too much emphasis on what the scale says.) While trying to gain muscle, you should eat more than the average RDI. Whey protein and soy protein (which can be found in powder form) are great sources of protein, as are nuts and eggs. You can also time your protein and carb intake to maximize workout results.

Carbohydrates

By reducing your carbohydrate intake, your body will turn to fat for fuel and start burning it up. But don’t cut carbs completely; it’s still needed for extra energy, and you don’t want your body to go after your muscle instead. So, on the days that you do high-intensity workouts, include more carbohydrates in your diet. On your steady state cardio days, have a low carb intake. And on your days off—those all-important recovery days—skip carbs completely.

Many of your non-meat (plant) protein sources also have extra carbohydrate content (lentils, beans), which is something to be aware of. Still, these are a better source of carbs than starchy carbohydrates without any protein, such as pasta, bread and rice.

Fats

Believe it or not, you won’t want to cut fat completely out of your diet. It, too, supplies your body with needed energy. You will of course want to stick to the healthy, fat-containing foods: low-fat milk products, legumes, and oils (canola, corn, soy bean and olive). Some good sources of unsaturated fat: avocados, nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pecans) and seeds (flax, sesame, pumpkin).

Weight Loss Villains

Avoid these ingredients in your diet:

• Sodium
• Caloric sweeteners (added sugar and artificial sweeteners)
• Saturated fat (whole milk, cheese, ice cream)
• Trans fat (cookies, crackers, chips and other commercial baked goods)

WHEN TO EAT

This is almost as important as what you eat! We recommend eating 5-6 small nutritious meals throughout the day, as opposed to 2-3 large meals. This will do three things:

1. Speed up your metabolism
2. Supply your body with ample energy throughout the day
3. Keep you from overeating. Many people only have one big meal, often at the end of the day. Starving, they overeat, and then plop down on the couch or head for bed. This is a recipe for sluggish metabolism and fat gain!

HOW MUCH TO EAT

In order to lose excess body fat, you also need to lower your caloric intake (while still meeting your body’s nutrient needs). Find a calculator that can tell you what your caloric needs are, and then subtract 300-500. Your body will turn to fat stores for energy, allowing you to burn up that excess fat throughout your body.

Remember that it’s going to be about more than eating, say, 1700 calories, if this is your target. It’s even more important to focus on eating a lower-carb diet than on lowering your caloric intake. After all, more calories in a healthier diet will always be better for you than having fewer calories, but less healthy foods. The most effective approach to losing weight would be a low calorie, low carb diet.

WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING?

Poring over the books for extended periods of time can cause lead us to caffeinated beverages and not enough water. If you’re propping your eyelids open with soda, red bull, and vanilla lattes, don’t! Caffeine is fine in moderation, and can even give your metabolism a little boost while suppressing your appetite (that’s why many weight loss supplements include a small amount). But skip the sugar, creamer and flavoring. And after your first cup or two, switch to green tea, which has caffeine plus incredible weight loss and health benefits. Or, have an apple or a protein shake for energy. And we’ll say it again: drink more water!

ARE YOU SUPPLEMENTING?

Taking a supplement is important for everyone, but critical for those trying to lose weight. Dietary supplements are an easy way to give your body the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients it needs that you can’t get from food alone. Go for a multivitamin for overall health. A metabolism booster like Green Tea Extract is good, too. Weight loss support supplements like ResveraShape can be a boon when you’re trying to lose excess fat. The right ones will combine essential nutrients with metabolism-boosting (green tea, kelp, grapefruit extract) and appetite-suppressing ingredients (resveratrol, caffeine).

KEEP A HEALTH LOG

We bet we don’t need to tell a medical school graduate this, but just in case: it’s really important to keep a daily exercise and nutrition log. Not only will this give you a clear picture of your habits and patterns, so you can see what works and what doesn’t; but it will also keep your goals in focus. Without a visible record, it’s easy to miscount how many “just this once” indulgences we give in to!

Keep a note, too, of your weight and measurements. Don’t compare them from day to day, or you won’t notice much difference, and you may get discouraged. Compare every other week, or at the end of the month, however, and you’ll see the difference.

Getting others involved in your journal is even more effective, and fun, too. Don’t believe us? Just ask weight loss bloggers Cara and Ryan, who have tracked their way to incredible results.

MASTERING THE MIND

Finally, don’t discount the role your mental state plays in weight loss. Are you getting enough sleep? Not only is adequate rest necessary for overall health and performance, but it’s also necessary if you want to get anything out of your exercise routine. It’s during sleep that your body recovers from your workouts and builds muscle. It’s also important to keep stress and depression at bay, as they can make weight management hard. Many people find that achieving balance and focus is ultimately the most important step in their weight loss journey.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR GYM TIME

Your weight training and resistance exercises (like stair-climbing), along with high intensity cardio (kick boxing), are great! Just make sure to progressively add resistance and repetitions, and switch up the activity type every so often. You can skip the machines, which only deliver isolated exercises, unless you are honing in on one specific area. Otherwise, compound movements that work multiple muscle groups are best. Make sure you aren’t working the same muscle group every day, or your body won’t have time to recover and progress. Steady state cardio on the bike or treadmill will allow your muscles a rest between intense training days.

For the full scoop, check out these posts:

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